Posthuman Blues

Bruce Sterling ponders graffiti in Belgrade:

For instance, why would a Belgrade street-tagger choose to call himself "Mitochondria"? Isn't that weird handle just a little too Paul Di Filippo ribofunk for a normal, red-blooded Serbian teenager? How does he explain that choice of cognomen to his running-buddies? 'Yeah, dudes... from now on, you can call me "Mitochondria!" See, the mitochondrion is a tiny cellular power-plant that converts organic materials into adenosine triphosphate!' Are these Belgrade street-kids, like, down with that lifestyle choice?

What do they tell each other about him? "Wow, man, 'Mitochondria' is cool! His iPod's cram-full of techno music!"